You and your members were always a match made in heaven. With your low rates and excellent member service, it was love at first sight for them. At first, things were going great. They were opening accounts, using their debit cards to redeem points, stopping in the branch once a week for a tricky transaction (or perhaps just to see their favorite teller). They couldn’t get enough of you.

But then the spark started to die out. Their transactions became few and far in between, their weekly trips to the branch turned into monthly visits, then yearly, and then they stopped altogether once the pandemic hit. Now, they’re not cashing in on their points anymore, and even worse, they’ve started closing a few of their accounts. You’re losing them, but what can you do? Send some flowers? Hire a skywriter? The good news is, it’s never too late to win them back, but it’s going to take some effort.

Reignite the spark

Maybe you’ve noticed a pattern like this with a few of your members, or maybe you’ve simply stopped reaching out and interacting with them. Aside from generic marketing emails, do your members hear from you? Do you reach out to them regularly with community events, a few holiday treats here and there, and a personalized birthday email or two? Or are you leaving it all to a nice Twitter graphic and a mass-generated email?

If you’re not reminding them how much you appreciate them, how will they know? And when that flashy new FinTech or bank comes around with their slick mobile app, singing promises of early paychecks and no fees, it might be all too tempting for your members to ride off into the sunset with a new financial institution, leaving you wondering what you could have done differently.

Data analytics to the rescue!

But don’t wait until a member is nearly out the door before you make an effort to win them back, be involved enough to notice when they’re starting to slip away. Using data analytics, you can track certain behaviors that signal a member is losing interest. Analytics software can watch for warning signs such as which of your members are closing subaccounts, unenrolling from your bill pay program, or are decreasing their ACH deposits.

Once you notice a member is following these trends, it might be time to step in with a grand gesture. Send them a personalized email–and yes, make sure it’s actually personalized, not simply, “Hi [insert name here]”–letting them know how much you appreciate their membership. Offer them a special rate, a gift card to a local business, or an invitation to the community event you have coming up soon. Remind them why they fell in love with your credit union in the first place and the special community connection you have that no FinTech ever will.

Don’t take them for granted

Remember, just because you’ve won a member over for now doesn’t mean they’re yours forever. The competition will always be steep, especially as more options and technologies enter the marketplace. So don’t take your current members for granted and simply focus on getting more; take the time to let them know you’re still as invested in them and their financial wellbeing as you were the day you met them.